The present invention relates generally to the field of account customization, and in particular to systems and methods for tailoring account characteristics to the needs of an individual consumer.
Various types of financial products are offered to consumers. Such financial products typically are designed to meet the needs of a broad cross-section of a given market. In this way, an offering institution can maximize return with the least amount of effort. For example, loan products are offered with set terms, rates and payments. Thus, a consumer obtains a loan with the most applicable terms, and proceeds to make payments on the loan until the principle amount is satisfied. In many cases, the terms of the loan can be tailored within some limit, but often not sufficient to meet the needs of an individual consumer, and particularly not for low value loans.
Yet further, such loan products cannot be manipulated without accessing a representative for a particular institution. In some cases, institutions offer services, such as private banking, that provides access to a representative, and thus allows for some degree of flexibility in modifying existing financial products. However, such an approach is costly and is often only warranted for major customers. Indeed, institutions are often not willing to allow any access to representatives authorized to make adjustments to financial products because of the cost of providing such representatives. Thus, for this reason, manipulation of financial products is often not available to most consumers.
Hence, for at least the aforementioned reasons, there exists a need in the art for systems and methods capable of tailoring existing financial products to the needs of individual consumers. This, as well as a variety of other needs are addressed by the disclosure provided herein.